Why Google Is Stealing Apple's Ideas

Forbes ^ | 7/10/2009 | Brian Caulfield,

[bruinbirdman]

Short answer: because they're good. Long answer: because Google has none of its own.

Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you. That's because, in Apple's case, they already have.

Apple is renowned for its secrecy. Employees are given different code names for new products so they can't gossip about them in the company cafeteria. Vendors and parts suppliers are punished if they leak any news. Blogs that publish news about new products have been browbeaten by lawyers and even bought out.

Apple's pattern of offering hints and cryptic disclosures about founder Steve Jobs' health--a campaign that cumulated in the revelation last month that Jobs had received a liver transplant in Memphis, Tenn., earlier this year--is said to have prompted a Securities And Exchange Commission investigation.

If Apple is trying to keep information away from its competitors, however, it missed a spot. That spot's name is Eric Schmidt. He's Google's chief executive, and he sits on Apple's board of directors.

Google announced this week it will soon offer an operating system for PCs and netbooks, a move that pits Google squarely against Apple, whose business is built around its own OS X software. And that's only the latest Apple business Google has aped.

Does that mean Schmidt's a spy? No. Instead the parallels between Google and Apple appear to be a product of two different cultures: Apple is acting, and Google is reacting. And that's why Google winds up stumbling into so many of Apple's businesses. The two companies are accidental competitors. They just don't seem to know it yet.

Let's start with Google's just announced operating system, Chrome OS. It runs on both x86 and ARM processors. The software, Google boasts, will be optimized for the Web and is built on an open-source variant of

[Mojave]

Google announced this week it will soon offer an operating system for PCs

How does Apple own the idea of offering operating systems for PCs?

[AnotherUnixGeek]

Google announced this week it will soon offer an operating system for PCs and netbooks, a move that pits Google squarely against Apple, whose business is built around its own OS X software.

Google actually announced that it will create yet another new window manager for Linux, and will try to make the Google Chrome web browser and presumably web-based Google Apps the focus of this environment. Most people see this as an attempt to keep the netbook desktop out of Microsoft's orbit, as netbooks continue to be one of the few hot sellers in this economy. Windows 7 is probably too big to run well on netbooks and Apple doesn't even make anything that could be considered a netbook.

And that's only the latest Apple business Google has aped.

The article goes on to name exactly one other "Apple business Google has aped" - mobile computing platforms. That's a bit of a stretch - Apple hardly invented the space it now get so much attention for with the iPhone. Also, Apple designs its own hardware as well as the software. Google has built a Linux-based mobile OS in Android meant to run on multiple smartphones and mobile computers.

[lewislynn]

So there is no honor among thieves.

Doesn't Algore collect checks for doing nothing from both those companies?

[Bobalu]

I just got my invite to try out the new google voice. It’s a free phone system. I got a local number and can make free calls anywhere in the US.

Calls, voicemail and many other features...it’s quite nice :-)

[Swordmaker]

Why should Google be any different than Microsoft?

Is Google stealing from Apple? PING!

Google Stealing from Apple Ping!

If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.

[TheMole]

Here’s anotther non-similarity. Apple sells a lot of hardware — iPods, Macs, iPhones. Google doesn’t sell any hardware and AFAIK isn’t planning to.

[Terpfen]

Google announced this week it will soon offer an operating system for PCs and netbooks, a move that pits Google squarely against Apple, whose business is built around its own OS X software.

Chrome OS is an attempt to get Linux onto netbooks, not an attempt to compete with Apple. The target here is Microsoft.

[Terpfen]

Windows 7 is probably too big to run well on netbooks...

Actually, it isn't. When Windows 7 was first publicly demoed by Steven Sinofsky, he ran it live off a netbook. People who've installed the Windows 7 beta and RC on their netbooks report performance at least on par with Windows XP.

Or if you're referring to Windows 7's install size, it takes up about 16GB. Not ideal for a netbook, but not really large enough to complain about, IMO.

When Chrome OS launches, Windows 7 will be about a year old, give or take three months. It'll be the de facto, entrenched netbook OS. It's tough to see Chrome OS making a huge dent into that market, especially given that netbooks available this time next year will have higher hardware specs than the usual 1.6GHz Atom/1GB DDR2 RAM affairs you find in every netbook now. Chrome OS could fill a niche "traveler's netbook" market, however, if Chrome OS itself has an install size at or less than 8 GB, and if Chrome OS netbooks all had 8GB or 16GB SSDs. You could then access mission-critical data through a VPN, and personal stuff through Google's cloud services, or your own VPN/DDNS home setup.

[ketsu]

You don't understand the point of chrome. Chrome runs embedded *and hosted in other operating systems*. It's not a typical desktop OS. Think of it more like a parasite. If google's brand offerings get enough mind share to make Microsoft's products irrelevant(especially office), then the parasite doesn't need the host anymore and can run standalone. This has always been google's strategy and what Microsoft has been afraid of since the netscape days.

As soon as the operating system becomes a commodity Microsoft is finished.

[WashStateGirl]

in 53 years i have never bought one piece of apple stuff, it always seemed like yuppie junk.

[Terpfen]

You don't understand the point of chrome.

I full well understand the point of both Chrome the web browser and Chrome OS. Perhaps you should do some reading up on Chrome OS? Make note of the first sentence of the second paragraph, and the second and third sentences of the fourth paragraph.

Further, you should really look up Chrome's market share: despite all the hype behind the Google name, it has less share than Apple's Safari. If Google can't pull people away from IE, Firefox, Safari, and Opera with a) the power of the Google name, and b) prominent word of mouth and advertising on sites like YouTube, how will Google pull people away from Windows itself? Remember, the point of having a netbook is to have a fully-featured notebook in a smaller form factor that emphasizes long battery life.

Or perhaps you just didn't know that the name of Google's OS is Chrome OS, sharing the same name as their web browser? If so, your reply to me makes more sense, as it seems you're under the impression that I think Chrome is just a web browser.

[MyTwoCopperCoins]

[WVKayaker]

Mac user:

[freekitty]

Anyone that gives ideas to competitors whether selling or not is usually stealing and equally guilty of an ethics violation. Most corporations make you take ethics tests and giving competitors stuff; etc is a big fat no no. It should be common sense and honesty.

[bruinbirdman]

Ethics relative to customers is different than ethics between businesses.

A long time ago, a very successful boss of mine said, "They try to screw me every chance they get and I do the same."

This is different from ethics within a company or concerning an individual.

yitbos

[Terpfen]

I see the Apple hating crowd is here later than usual.

[freekitty]

Doesn’t matter. Either you ethical or you’re not.

[MyTwoCopperCoins]

Not hate, really.

Just getting the cat-fight going...

;^)

BTW, I actually praised Apples’ iPhone, only a couple of posts ago.

[Mr. K]

Ilove to do that too!

At the ball games I always start the “The Other SIde Sucks” chant